August 8-11: IrelandSpeaker: Fr. Laurence Freeman OSBTitle: “Fruits of Crisis”No one likes crisis but we can all learn from those times when we seem to lose control of events and become open in ways we could not be otherwise. Meditation too helps us let go and become open to the One who is infinitely open to us.Venue: University College – Cork – IrelandEvent & time: pre-seminar retreatContact: Sylvia Thompson - www.jms11.com - Email: sylviajms11@gmail.com - Call 00 353 66 7137484

August 11-14: IrelandSpeaker: Thimothy RadcliffeTitle: “Alive in Christ”What does it mean to be alive in Christ? This is a tough question in a society which is often secular and hostile. Timothy Radcliffe former Master of the Dominican Order will explore the roots of our identity and life as baptised people.The crisis we face in the church and society today presents great challenges to Christain identity. No one knows better than Timothy Radcliffe - who in his years as Master of the Dominican Order has travelled the world and seen all sides of the church - how that identity is formed and reformed today. In this year's John Main Seminar, hosted by the Irish Christian Meditation Community Timothy Radcliffe goes to the root of that identity and rediscovers its perennial freshness and wonder". Laurence Freeman OSBVenue: University College – Cork – IrelandEvent & time: John Main Seminar 2011Contact: Sylvia Thompson - www.jms11.com - Email: sylviajms11@gmail.com - Call 00 353 66 7137484

July 1: IrelandSpeaker: Fr. Laurence Freeman OSBTitle: “Who Meditates?”The workshop will be an introduction to the tradition and practice of Christian meditation, situating it in the teaching of Jesus and the early church. It will also explore the universality of this experience and approach that illustrates how the Gospel is mystical and political and how Jesus dissolves division. For this reason the World Community or Christian Meditation has been led to share meditation with the poor, the imprisoned, the sick and dying, the homeless. Compassion flows from contemplation and so social as well as personal healing becomes deeper and more effective .Venue: 'Spiritfest' – Website: www.spiritfest2011.comEvent & time: workshop – from 10:30 until 11:45 and from 16:00 until 17:30Contact: Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry – OPRFM - Armagh Diocesan Pastoral CentreThe Magnet – Dundalk - Co. Louth - 'Spiritfest' – Website: www.spiritfest2011.com

July 2: IrelandSpeaker: Fr. Laurence Freeman OSBTitle: What does Contemplative Prayer mean?”Prayer is like a great wheel, with each spoke expressing a different form of prayer – all valid and potent. But all forms of prayer converge in the hub, in the stillness of the mind of Christ. If we lose the contemplative dimension of prayer all aspects of Christian life will suffer today. How do we understand contemplation in our own day? And even more importantly, how do we recover it?Venue: 'Spiritfest' – Website: www.spiritfest2011.comEvent & time: keynote – from 10:30 until 11:30 and from 14:45 until 15:30Contact: Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry – OPRFM - Armagh Diocesan Pastoral CentreThe Magnet – Dundalk - Co. Louth - 'Spiritfest' – Website: www.spiritfest2011.com

June 12: CanadaSpeaker: Fr. Laurence Freeman OSBTitle: “Silence in the City: A retreat for Youth and Young Adults”It can seem as though anxiety fuels our culture, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and directionless. As young people we are experiencing greater pressures and are bombarded by competing messages - and yet many of us are searching for spiritual meaning and purpose and to find balance in our lives. A personal meditation practice may be the key.Venue: Saint Paul University Amphitheatre - 223 Main St, Ottawa, OntarioEvent & time: A retreat for Youth and Young Adults – from 14:30 until 18:00Contact: Flora Benoit – E-mail: florab@sympatico.ca – Tel: 613-789-7138

June 1-25: ItalySpeaker: Fr. Laurence Freeman OSBTitle: "Caring"When we truly care for someone - or something - we give them a precious kind of attention that also carries the gift of self. It changes them and us and helps us see why the love of God radiates through all human forms of love. During the retreat we will explore what caring means - beginning with the daily care of the soul we practise in meditation and following it to the highest level of caring that we call salvationVenue: Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore - 53041 - Chiusure (SI)Event & time: Monte Oliveto retreat - from Saturday 18th at 17:00 until Saturday 25th at 10:00Contact: WCCM Monte Oliveto – St. Mark's – Myddelton Square – London EC1R 1XX - tel: + 44 20 7278 2070 - email: welcome@wccm.org

May 17: USASpeaker: Fr. Laurence Freeman OSBTitle: “Who is My Neighbour?: The Politics of Fear and the Contemplative Insight.”What light might the ancient way of meditation or contemplative prayer shed on our contemporary culture wars? The hallmark of the culture wars is identification of the enemy, from among the boundless differences that contain us: race, religion, class, gender, sexual preference. The hallmark of the contemplative way is recognition of our neighbour, especially where we least expect to meet him. Join us to more fully understand the seductions and dangers posed by the politics of fear and to more fully grasp the transforming remedy of contemplative prayer.Venue: St Theresa Catholic Church. 6622 Haskell Street, Houston, Texas, 77007.Event & time: evening talkContact: Claudia Morgan at 713.668.1209, claudiamorgan@comcast.net or go to www.wccmtexas.org

May 20-26: USASpeaker: Fr. Laurence Freeman OSBTitle: Getting Rid of God ”A Christian mystic once wrote, "I pray to God to rid me of God". Jesus cried out his feeling of separation from the Father as he returned to him. After his Resurrection he told his disciples not to "cling" to him. In many places in the Christian scriptural and mystical tradition losing sight of God is the way to see God, unknowing is the way to full knowledge. Throughout this silent weeklong meditation retreat Fr. Laurence will illustrate this aspect of the Christian mystery as it is found in our life today”Venue: Manresa Jesuit Retreat House - Detroit, MichiganEvent & time: US National retreat - from Friday 19:30 until Thursday 26th of May at noon (12:00pm)Contact: Eugene Bebeau – E-mail: gbebeau@gmail.com

February 19: UKSpeaker: Fr. Laurence Freeman OSBTitle: “The Great Chasm: Spirituality in a time of austerity” - Through a contemplative reading of the parable of the rich and the poor (in Luke 16) Fr LaurenceFreeman OSB points to a renewal of values and the meaning of well-being that begins with the opening of the heart and works outwards to change our worldVenue: Westminster Cathedral Hall – LondonEvent & time: day retreat - from 10:00 until 16:00Contact: Eileen McDade – e-mail: - emcdade@talktalk.net - tel. 020 7231 6278 - Mob. 0797 385 9496